Red Devils roll, clinch spot in SLIAC Tournament
CARLINVILLE, Ill. – Backed by double-doubles from junior Michaela Balducci (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) and freshman Lexi Dooley (Sutter, Ill./Warsaw) the Eureka College women's basketball team downed Blackburn 73-64 in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, Wednesday night inside Dawes Gymnasium.
The victory clinches a spot in the SLIAC Tournament for the Red Devils, marking their fifth year in a row appearing in postseason play.
The host played the Red Devils close over the first quarter of play, but Eureka held the Beavers to just eight points in the second quarter to build a 35-23 halftime lead.
Eureka built up a 17-point lead early in the 3rd quarter, their largest lead of the night, before the Beavers closed out the contest by slicing the deficit to single-digits.
Senior Emily Camden (Green Valley, Ill./Midwest Central) led the Red Devils in scoring with 18 points. She racked up five 3-point field goals to push her career total to 209. Camden now sits at 1,074 career points, two points shy of cracking the top 10 in school history.
Balducci added 13 points and pulled down 11 rebounds while Dooley chipped in 11 points and snarled 10 boards. The double-double was Balducci's seventh of the season, while Dooley posted the third double-double of her rookie campaign.
Sophomore Kerrigan Dura (Brimfield, Ill./Brimfield) filled up the stat sheet, logging eight points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.
Eureka (11-13, 10-7 SLIAC) will close out the 2015-16 regular season with a trip south to Greenville College on Saturday. Tip-off against the Panthers is set for 1 p.m.